GASTROMAQUIA JAKARTA

Gastromaquia
came to Jakarta all thanks to its owner, who is an avid fan of Spanish food,
and whenever he travelled to Spain, Gastromaquia Madrid has always been the
owner’s must “embark” restaurant! There must be a special personal interest and
potential of this restaurant growing well in Jakarta, and that’s why after
constantly meeting the chefs (Hugo Ecolios Roldan & Ramon Figuls Palos) and
the owners there, just a few months ago, finally the restaurant – which is
currently in the top 50 best restaurants in Madrid - opened its door for their
excited Jakarta customers.

Gastromaquia
Jakarta is located in the posh area of Senopati, in Ciniru street to be exact,
if you know Bistronomy, you’re going to notice a beautiful two-stories Victorian
looking white building with a little bakery and if yes then you’re on the right spot.
Sometimes it’s okay to judge something from its cover, as the interior of the
restaurant also rings classy, minimalist and homey, short to say it’s almost
like a two-stories house transformed to this gorgeous restaurant, the first
and second floor had a pretty different look to it: the first floor had a bar
area hence it’s a little more urban, hip and intimate with dim lighting, while
the second floor was very clean, very minimalist, very bright with open air
balcony, and in a sense, fashionable, and oh speaking about being fashionable,
the second floor of this restaurant has been constantly booked for editorial photoshoots,
I can see the second floor to be a very good spot for baby or bridal shower, or
private events.

I love
the touch of quirkiness to the design, for example this lamp, which is formed
from dining utensils, you’re going to find some other decoration details made
from kitchen and dining utensils!

Just
in time for the pre-sunset!

The
menu in Gastromaquia Jakarta is pretty much on the same range as the one in Madrid,
they only added some menus to cater local’s palate more, they claim to use
fresh & premium ingredients which some of them are imported straight from
Madrid, anyway I had a pretty big lunch that day and tried most of their best
selling Spanish menus, so let’s just dig in!

Crab Rangun

IDR 39kTheir
Crab Rangun is currently one of the best selling appetizers, the generous crab
meat coated with the skin, deep fried perfectly to create this crunchy coating
and moist tasty inside. I just simply how fragrant this dish was when it got
served to my table and you really need to serve this while it’s still warm. The
crab meat was seasoned beautifully, savory-tasty, and fresh!

Garlic Butter PrawnIDR 95k

Their
garlic butter prawn was another dish worth trying here, fresh prawns cooked
pan-seared along with the pre-seasoned garlic butter. Sometimes cooking garlic
can be pretty tricky, that’s why you need to know the balance, when is too much
can be displeasing instead of satisfying, but theirs was just a proper balance,
the garlic was indeed generously given for a portion but I found myself
enjoying the butter sauce, to get more texture, pair the prawns with their
crunchy toasted bread.

Galician Octopus with
Potato FoamIDR 75k

Cheese
was really something that would come into my mind if I had no idea was I
ordered, I mean boy it does look like melted cheese, but as soon as you scoop a
bit, it was actually a very smooth potato puree topped with beautifully cooked
octopus and Spanish smoked paprika. I thought this was going to be very spicy (judging
from the powder), but it was the opposite. I honestly like this one, it’s just
so simple, classic yet appetizing.

Seared Pork Shank
with Spanish CheeseIDR 135k

Finally,
a pork menu in their list, I expected the pork shank to be a little more juicy,
but I love the very light seasoning as it gives the chance of the fresh pork
meat natural flavor to really speak for this dish, the spanish cheese gave at
slightly salty flavor.

Gastromaquia Spare
Ribs with Fragrant RiceIDR 129k

This
might be my most favorite meal of my lunch, first, beef has always been my most
favorite protein (pork too), and when you know how to perfectly cook short ribs
you basically rule the freaking world. The spare ribs was chunky, very tender
and very well seasoned, and I don’t know why, but I love how they randomly
splatter a tiny bit of sauce to the rice, well it’s not that fragrant fragrant
but... yeah I don’t really know why but I just found the rice to be very pleasant,
and their spare ribs was the kind of one that goes well with rice! Gotta try!

Garlic Noodle

IDR 45k

Heard
their garlic noodle is currently the number one best selling menu here, I tried
and I found this simply interesting, first, I just love the texture of the
noodle, it was firm on a good scale, and tossed in rich seasoning, I honestly
didn’t feel that this was very garlicky as the sauce (assuming soy) kind of
washing the garlic flavor a bit, but yes, it was still very enjoyable.

Stuffed Chicken with Bacon and DateIDR 95kThe
ingredients might sound weird but it’s the good type of weird that I will
always be OK with, the tender boneless chicken wrapped the bacon and date, and
the date indeed gave that extra hint of sweetness on a good amount, despite the
pale look, this was actually a good dish.

Madam Rosella, Happy
Days, Strawberry Lemonade

IDR 35k/39k/32kThese three are Gastromaquia's best selling mocktails: Madam Rosella had this sour and floral notes to it, Happy
Days is one of Gastromaquia’s signature mocktails consisting of orange, lychee,
kiwi and passionfruit. The fruity ingredients and notes created this sweet and
refreshing beverage that you can enjoy, Strawberry Lemonade was the mixture of sparkling soda and strawberry syrup, all three are pretty much "the summer drink", but it’s “Summer”
always in Jakarta, well that’s why you need this!

Homemade NY
CheesecakeIDR 55k

The
good old New York Cheesecake with dense texture and Graham crackers crust,
short to say, everyone’s favorite cheesecake that melts in your mouth as soon as
you scoop it in, smooth, milky, creamy but not overpowering your palate.

Overall,
I think Gastromaquia serves good food that’s enjoyable and mostly meant to be
shared, it’s just something about their food (guessing it’s the presentation)
that doesn’t really ring “personal”, but in a way that’s good as they say
sharing is caring. They say, but I don’t, I only share my food pictures NOT the
food XD